Diary Prequel Package — page 32

1 told him exactly NIH. forward and do some good for mankind. I also pointed out the important fact that now we can do head-to-head comparisons of stem cells derived from embryos versus adults versus fetal tissue. My comments appeared on the front page of the New York Times on August 11 and a clip of my comments was shown on the Lehr Newshour on the evening of August 10. I am sure that some scientists will criticize me for saying that the decision was a positive thing. However, it is clear to me that these types of people are clueless when it comes to the world of Washington, D.C. Furthermore, the far right will also be upset since I favored the use of embryonic stem cells at all. I care even less about what they think of my position. All in all, I believe that this was a good day for biomedical research. Lana Skirboll deserves much create for turning the President around. August 12, 2001 - CNN in association with Time Magazine ran a special program on "America's Best in Science and Medicine". I was featured in an 11 minute segment along with 4 other scientists. This was in association with Time Magazine naming me one of 18 scientists as "America's Best in Science and Medicine". This feature appeared in the August 26 edition of Time that reached the newsstands on August 13. August 13, 2001 - Bob Wood (Chief of Staff for HHS Secretary Thompson) phoned and said that Secr. Thompson and President Bush have been discussing my turning down of the NIH Director's job and they want me to reconsider and to name my own conditions including maintaining my Directorship of NIAID and virtually anything else I wanted. August 14, 2001 - Terrell Halaska (Deputy Chief of Staff to Secr. Thompson) called with almost identical pleas as that of Bob Wood (see above). She mentioned that I am frequently mentioned at the White House and that the President wanted very much for me to be NIH Director. I told Terrell that I did not want to do this and explained to her that my reasons were similar to those 12 years ago when I said no to President Bush (the elder), i.e. I wanted to work fulltime on the AIDS epidemic and on Global Health and Infectious Diseases. She was very understanding and was quite complimentary to me, saying what an honor it was to work with me. Clearly, the phone call went well. August 15, 2001 - As I had promised, I called back Bob Wood and told him exactly what I had told Terrell Halaska. Bob also was very understanding. August 20, 2001 - Secr. Thompson spends entire day at NIH as part of his week at NIH. I presented to him on Global Health and Vaccine Development at NIH. Also, Gary Nabel and I gave him a tour of the NIAID Vaccine Research Center. August 21, 2001 - Attended a meeting at the White House of the Policy Coordinating Committee of the Biological Weapons Conference group. Chaired by Robert Joseph (Special asst. to the President) and Richard Falkenrath (Deputy to Condolezza Rice). Present at meeting was Ambassador Donald Mahley, Special Negotiator at State Department for Chemical/Biological Weapons, as well as representatives from Justice Dept., State, DOD, DHHS (me, John La Montagne, William Steiger), etc. Purpose was to review document that the group put together (White Paper) as a policy that the President will articulate in association with the USA refusing to re-certify the Biological